Bobby Lee Turner, a heavy-equipment operator at the county's construction and demolition landfill in Crawford, took fuel from county pumps, unloaded it at his home nearby and sold it either to friends or on the black market, Oglethorpe County Sheriff Mike Smith said.

The 30-year county employee sometimes made more than one trip a day, according to Smith, who said the stolen fuel was valued at more than $50,000.

Turner, 55, was arrested on a single count of felony theft Friday after a probe by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Jim Fullington, special agent in charge of the GBI's Athens office, didn't announce Turner's arrest until Tuesday because agents didn't want to tip off anyone who knew they were buying stolen gas from Turner, he said.

Officials were able to document thefts from August until the time Turner was arrested Friday, according to Oglethorpe County Commission Chairman Billy Pittard.

But the thefts might have begun sooner, when a lightning strike knocked out a computerized fuel tracking system that remained down through July, Pittard said.

Turner is the fourth county employee that the GBI arrested since Pittard was elected commission chairman a little more than two years ago.

A former recreation director, grounds supervisor and a part-time worker were arrested in December 2008 on charges they stole thousands of dollars from concession stand receipts and county gasoline.

Turner sneaked a county truck out the C&D landfill's back gate off Buddy Faust Road, filled up the 100-tank at the county's fuel pumps on Fairground Road, then unloaded the fuel into a storage tank at his home, also on Fairground Road, officials said.

"No one there saw what was going on because he wasn't using the main entrance" on U.S. Highway 78, Pittard said.

County officials noticed over the past six months or so that fuel usage had gone up, and though they knew which department was using more fuel, they didn't find out who was taking it until the officials reviewed a printout of fuel pump users, Pittard said.

Each employee has his own key to turn on the gas pumps, and a computer printout shows that Turner pumped some 20,000 gallons of fuel each of the past six months, Pittard said. The retail price of diesel averages a little more than $2.70 a gallon in the Southeast.

Surveillance videos and a stakeout by GBI agents confirmed Turner was the thief, he said.

Pittard knew Turner for many years before he was elected county commission chairman in 2008 because Turner worked for him when he headed the Department of Public Works.

"I would never dream he would've done something like this," Pittard said. "I considered him a friend. It's very sad."